Truth and Rumors: The $500 million floating golf course

A 27-hole golf course bobbing in the middle of the Indian Ocean sounds like something out of a bad Kevin Costner movie. Only it’s not. It’s real. Or could be real. Behold the Royal Indian Ocean Club, which is currently under development. Larry Olmsted at Forbes.com has the details:

Dutch Docklands, a player in the world of floating technologies, or making land where there was no land, has announced its plans to build a golf course on the ocean in the Maldives. There are lots of golf courses that claim to be “on” the ocean, but this one would quite literally be “on” the ocean.

The concept is a series of manmade islands with one or more holes on each, linked by transparent undersea tunnels through which golfers walk or ride, sort of a golf course meets Moonbase Alpha ambition.The site will cost roughly $500 million to build—including 200 homes, a hotel and, yes, a beach—and Docklands has signed Troon Golf to manage the course. Have to see it to believe it? We don’t blame you. Click here for renderings. Liberty National better than ever (and cheaper than ever, too)And now for some news from a glitzy course closer to home: Liberty National in Jersey City, N.J., which this week had a coming-out party for its new redesign. Built on a landfill by Reebok founder Paul Fireman, the course offers Statue of Liberty views on all but four holes, but garnered lukewarm reviews from the pros when the Barclays was played there in 2009. Liberty has since addressed some of those complaints, in particular the greens, reports Mason Levinson of Bloomberg. And best of all for New Yorkers, memberships are now available for half the original asking price:

The initiation fee, originally a $500,000 bond, has been lowered to a $250,000 non-refundable payment that can be made over a couple of years, Fireman said in an interview, pointing out a difficult economy that many have adjusted to.

“People who can afford Liberty are less affected now,” he said. “They’ve reassessed their lives. They know they want to move on, so they’re able to join. They’re a little more cautious, they don’t want to look precocious to their friends, but I think that’s over.”

As for the test they’ll face when they walk onto the course, it will still be stiff, even after the renovations.

“Liberty is not a lady that’s just going to say, ‘Just take me when you want,’” Fireman said. “You’ve got to work for it.”Wonderful imagery. They ought to inscribe that above the bar. McIlory readies for Haiti tripRory McIlroy has revealed that after playing the Memorial this week, he’s heading south—not to sit on a beach in the Bahamas or rage with his Euro buddies in Lake Nona, but to lend Unicef a hand in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. Notes Larry Dorman of The New York Times:

Hardly the usual kind of stop on a golfer’s itinerary leading up to the United States Open. Or any other week, for that matter. But McIlroy, who chose Unicef this year as the charity he wants to be affiliated with, explained that he wanted to see first hand the work that Unicef does there.

“It’s going to be a huge eye-opener for me,” he said. “Nothing like getting a little perspective in your life, huh? I don’t want to say I’m looking forward to it, because that’s not the right way to put it. But it’s something I’ve wanted to do, and it’s going to be an eye-opener, for sure.”And we thought Masters Sunday gave McIlroy perspective. Another class act from a classy kid… Tweet of the day @PaulGoydosPGA: I don't think I hurt my ribs in the minor car accident we had Monday. Thursday of Colonial I fell in the shower. Let the insults fly